Fred On Something - Why Blog?

Fred On Something writes:

"The question I have to ask is: why do I blog and what do I blog about?

I use my blog as a knowledge management tool. I mostly talk about my profession’s related subjects: computer sciences. The goals of this blog are simple:

* The first goal of that blog, one year ago, was to increase my English skills. Then it evolved to:
* To have a place to communicate some ideas I have about subjects in relation to my domain of interests, and to start discussions about them.
* To have a place where I can find discussions and ideas I had on particular subjects.
* To have a place to meet new people that shares the same ideas.
* To have a place where I can stimulate my creativity. The stimulation of my creativity will be done by writing and discussing with my peers.

It is a professional and social tool. In the past, people were communicating and developing social networks in person or by phone or mail. Now, it is possible to do it by the Internet via forums, emails and blogs."

Nice list! The original prompt was due to a post that talked about job finalists that wrote things in their blogs that disqualified them from their jobs. I prefer to focus on this part of the post; if your reasons for blogging are good and you make it a solid "professional and social tool," you should benefit from blogging. If someone exhibits a pattern of destructive use of blogging, I would question hiring them also; someone who shows constructive use would be a benefit to any team.

I rarely post directly to my blog; most posts are written in draft mode and then reviewed and posted later. I have changed posts because I thought my first wording was unfair or inappropriate. I have some posts that were killed and never posted. That said, the posts that do get published are ones I would have no problem with any employer, customer, friend, or family member reading. In fact, I hope that they better explain me and my strengths. After all, honest and transparent communication is what blogging and other relationships are all about.